Automatic railway safety appliance



J. H. MUNDERBACK. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, I921.

Patnted Dec.13,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET L J. H. MUNDERBACK. AUTOMATIC HAIILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY-23,1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

-AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

Application filed May 23, 1921.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. MUNDER- BACK, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Watertown, in the county of Jefi'erson, in theState of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Railway Safety Appliances, of which the following, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to a certain new and useful automatic railwaysafety appliance, and particularly to that class of appliances in whichtwo cooperative elements, positioned respectively adjacent to or on therailroad track or roadbed, and on the 1000- motive, act to operate thethrottle of the 10- comotive or such other means as may control themovement of the same to arrest the movement of the locomotive or trainalong the track when a danger signal has been passed, or for otherreasons.

The primary object of the invention is to avert accidents byautomatically arresting the movement of the locomotive or train in casethe same is allowed, either through negligence, inadvertence, or othercauses, to pass by a danger signal or into an occupied block, and myinvention is capable of association with such danger signal, or asemaphore,.in such manner that when the same is set against anapproaching train, my-appliance is brought into operative position toautomatically perform its function.

More specifically, the invention relates to the details of constructionand the arrangement of the appliance and parts thereof, by means ofwhich the main object of the invention is efiected in an eificientmanner.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description,taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which a Figure lis an elevation of a portion of the railroad track illustrating anappliance of my invention applied thereto, as well as the coeperativemeans adapted to be mounted upon the locomotive for actuating desiredparts, such as the throttle lever;

Fig. 2' is a top plan view of the appliance as applied to a railroadtrack.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 3-3, Fig. 2.

' Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 4-4, Fig. 2.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13, 1921. Serial No. 471,874.

Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 55, Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a cross section on the line 6-6, Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section through a portion of pulley mechanism, bymeans of which movement of certain portions of the device is effected.

Figs. Sand 9 are edge and side views, respectively, of the arm 33showing the spring for engaging the roller 32.

The appliance as here illustrated com prises an operating lever l,pivotally mounted on a cross-bar secured to the strips 3- and 4l whichmay, as shown, be connected respectively to the ties 5- and 6--. Aflexible cable, such as a wire or other suitable cable 7 is connected toan intermediate portion of the lever -1 and extends around a pulley 8-rotatably mounted in the casing '9- secured by means of cross-bar '-l0-to the ties 5-- and -6-. The cross-bar 10' may be formed integral withthe casing '9 or may be separate therefrom, and rigidly secured thereto,so as to constitute a rigid support for the casing.

The cable -7- extends under the rails 11 and 12 and is bifurcated, orsplit, so as to form two cables -13 and -14- extending around thepulleys 15 and l6 respectively and adapted to operate similar devicesdisposed at opposite sides of the railroad track, but within the railsin this particular illustration, and at opposite sides of the operatinglever mechanism l-. This particular arrangement, however, is notessential to my invention, as the operating mechanism may be positionedat any point, and the use of two similar devices is desirable so thatbut one coeperating appliance need be mounted upon the locomotive, andmovement, of the locomotive in either direction along the track can beautomatically arrested by the use of a single operating mechanism. 7

The cable 13 extends around a pulley '17 while the cable 14- extendsaround a pulley 18, each of these pulleys being carried by a similarlyshaped casing or frame 19 having a cross-bar 20 formed integraltherewith or rigidly secured thereto, and adapted to be attached to therailroad track in any suitable manner, as by securement to two adjacentties. The cables 13-- and -1l each operate a similarly constructedmechanism embodying an elongated contact member 21- preferably havingits end portions curved or inclined downwardly, as shown at 22-. Thismember 21-- is formed with two spaced, substantially cylindrical bosses,23 each of which incloses a projecting pin 24 adapted to telescope witha pair of upwardly mitting a certain resiliency when the operatingmechanism mounted on the locomotive comes in contact with said contactmember.

The cables -l3 and 1 extend around pulleys 29 mounted on a horizontalaxis within a casing 30- formed in connection with the cross-plate 26-and as shown, the cables may extend upwardly through an opening in the.cross-plate and be connected to a yoke -31 having its opposite endsconnected tothe under side of the contact members --21-.

The operation of the appliance will now 'be readily understood. When thelever 1 is in the position shown in Fig. 6, the contact member 1- is ina position elevated somewhat above the rails of the track, or at leastin such position as adapted for contact with a roll, or other suitabledevice -3.2- mounted on a bar 33- which is pivoted at 34 to thelocomotive or its framework. This pivot is at an intermediate portion ofthe bar and the end of the bar opposite that upon which the roll 32 ismounted, is connected by a link 35- to the throttle lever 36- or suchother apparatus or device as may be suitable for producing the desiredresult of arresting the movement of the locomotive under the condltlOIlsdescribed.

'is moved to that position, the cables -13-- and-1 1-- through themedium of yoke -31-- pull the contact members -21- downwardly,telescoping the bosses 23 a about the bosses 25-- against the action ofthe inclosed spring -38" which surrounds the pin -2 1. i This movementof the contact members 21- is effected through lever 1 moving suchcontact members into a position where'the roller -32 will not come incontact therewith, and no movement of the bar 33- or throttle 36 will beeifected. a

It will be understood thatthe lever -1- may be operated from any desiredplace or position, that here shown being merely illustrative of aconstruction suitable for that purpose. This lever may constitute aportion of or may be a semaphore or signaling device of any characterhaving suitable connectionsfor operating the cable 7.

The pulley housings 9- -l9, 3O-V- and -38-- may all be formed ofcastings, if desired, and the housing 9- is connected with the housing'-38- by a tube -89 which may, as shown, fit within bosses formed inconnection with the respective housings 9--- and -38- and the housing-38 is connected to eachof the housings -19-- by separate tubes 40-.Each tube -40 may, as shown telescope Within bosses formed on thehousing -38- and the respective housings 19.

In like manner the housings 19 are connected to the housings 30 by tube-l which may, as shown, telescope within bosses formed in connectionwith the respective housings. By this construction a conduit is formedwhich connects the housing -9- with the housing 30- and through thisconduit the flexible cable may extend for actuating the contact deviceor plate. Preferably, as shown, the tubes -41 are somewhat inclineddownwardly from the housing 19 to the housing 30 to permit mosteffective assemblage of the appliance. f

Although I have shown and described a specific construction, form andarrangement of the parts, as illustrative of a perhaps preferredembodiment of my invention, I do not desire to limit myself to the exactdetails of construction and arrangement, as various changes may be madewithout departing from the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims.

-45 is a spring mounted upon the rod -33- and pressing against theroller -32 to produce more positive impact with the member -21.

-46 is a boss onthe member -21--- with which the roller 32- engages toinsure positive operation of the rod 33.

What I claim is: p 7

1. In an appliance of the class described, a cross plate having a-pairof upwardly projecting substantially cylindrical bosses, a contactmember having a pair of cylindrically extending bosses telescoped withinthe bosses uponsaid strip, a member connected to the said contact devicebetween the said bosses, and a flexible cable connected to said memberand adapted to eflect telescope movement of the bosses upon said contactdevice with the bosses upon said strips, and spring means within thebosses tending to move the contact device away from said strip.

2. In an appliance of the class described, a cross plate having a pairof upwardly projecting substantially cylindrical bosses, a contactmember having a pair of cylindrically extending bosses telescoped withinthe bosses upon said strips, a member connected to the said contactdevice between the said bosses, a flexible cable connected to saidmember and adapted to effect telescope movement of the bosses upon saidcontact device with the bosses upon said strips, spring means within thebosses tending to move the contact device away from said strip, and aprojecting pin within the bosses upon the contact device, said pinsdisposed within said springs.

3. In an appliance of the class described, a contact device, across-strip for supporting said contact device, springs interposedbetween the contact device and said strip, a flexible cable for movingsaid contact device toward the cross-strip, and a pulley housing formedin connection with said cross-strip, a pulley within said housing, saidcable extending over said pulley, and a lever arm for actuating thecable.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 7 da of May, 1921.

J OH H. MUNDERBACK. Witnesses:

C. A. CHAsE, Gno. D. FULLER.

